Photo (Above): by Victoria Syhalath
Apis mellifera: The Western Honey Bee
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Apis
Fantastic Bees and Where to Find Them:
Of gulfs of sweetness without bound
In Indian wildernesses found;
Of Syrian peace, immortal leisure,
Firmest cheer, and bird-like pleasure.
In Indian wildernesses found;
Of Syrian peace, immortal leisure,
Firmest cheer, and bird-like pleasure.
With the largest geographical range of any species of honey bee in the world, Apis mellifera can be found in North America and South America, as well as in Europe. Before 1622 there were no honey bees to be found in the western hemisphere; the spread of Apis mellifera is primarily anthropogentic in nature, meaning that the insects have been transported through human interventions such as importation or trade.
The Buzz About Bees (and how it's done):
Wait, I prithee, till I come
Within earshot of thy hum
Within earshot of thy hum
Bees are characterized by their noticeable black and golden stripes and transparent sets of wings (four wings total). The lifecycle of honeybees is holometabolous: meaning that during growth and development, bees undergo a complete cycle from egg, to larvae, to pupa, to adult. However, the amount of time any single bee spends in each stage differs based on the kind of bee it's being raised to become. As I will explain in the next section, bee colonies have very specific social hierarchies with very specifically associated roles.
The Hive as a Home:
As social insects, honeybees live together in groups and cooperate with each other in performing tasks such as caring for their young and collecting food for the hive. Communicating through dance and (in the case of the queen bee) pheromones, bees work systematically under a strict social hierarchy.
In honeybees there are two genders, male and female, where the female gender is further divided into the castes of sterile and fertile. Below are descriptions of the three classes of bee within each hive:
Queen: In each hive this is usually only one queen bee. The role of the queen, as the only fertile female of the entire colony, is to reproduce by laying up to 2,000 eggs per day. When a queen dies or is lost, the colony will select undeveloped female larvae and feed them "royal jelly", a higher quality diet that encourages greater development (and thus, fertility) in adulthood. The queen also emits pheromones to regulate the behavior of her workers and drones.
Workers: Worker bees are infertile females who do all the work of the colony. The number of workers in a colony (of course) depends on the size of the hive; but the average number ranges from 2,000 to 60,000 workers. Worker bees are in charge of collecting nectar, producing food, building the hive's comb, cleaning, and tending to the young produced by the queen. In the busy seasons (spring and summer) a worker bee's lifespan can last 5-6 weeks, while a worker bee born in the off-seasons can live 5-6 months.
Drones: Drones are male bees that exist within colony life only seasonally. There are anywhere between zero and 500 drones per hive on average, and their role is to fly out during the spring and summer months to mate with queens from other colonies. When not flying, drones are tended to by the worker bees-- but when winter comes, and the drones have served their purpose, they are kicked out of the hive to die.
In honeybees there are two genders, male and female, where the female gender is further divided into the castes of sterile and fertile. Below are descriptions of the three classes of bee within each hive:
Queen: In each hive this is usually only one queen bee. The role of the queen, as the only fertile female of the entire colony, is to reproduce by laying up to 2,000 eggs per day. When a queen dies or is lost, the colony will select undeveloped female larvae and feed them "royal jelly", a higher quality diet that encourages greater development (and thus, fertility) in adulthood. The queen also emits pheromones to regulate the behavior of her workers and drones.
Workers: Worker bees are infertile females who do all the work of the colony. The number of workers in a colony (of course) depends on the size of the hive; but the average number ranges from 2,000 to 60,000 workers. Worker bees are in charge of collecting nectar, producing food, building the hive's comb, cleaning, and tending to the young produced by the queen. In the busy seasons (spring and summer) a worker bee's lifespan can last 5-6 weeks, while a worker bee born in the off-seasons can live 5-6 months.
Drones: Drones are male bees that exist within colony life only seasonally. There are anywhere between zero and 500 drones per hive on average, and their role is to fly out during the spring and summer months to mate with queens from other colonies. When not flying, drones are tended to by the worker bees-- but when winter comes, and the drones have served their purpose, they are kicked out of the hive to die.
In order to rear and tend to the young, worker bees build hexagonal combs for the queen to lay her eggs in. The amount of time spent incubating in a cell varies depending on the type of bee: queens typically emerge as young adults after about 15 days, whereas workers and drone emerge after about 21 days.
Time to Feed:
Aught unsavory or unclean 40
Hath my insect never seen;
But violets and bilberry bells,
Maple-sap and daffodels,
Grass with green flag half-mast high,
Succory to match the sky, 45
Columbine with horn of honey,
Scented fern, and agrimony,
Clover, catchfly, adder’s-tongue
And brier-roses, dwelt among;
Hath my insect never seen;
But violets and bilberry bells,
Maple-sap and daffodels,
Grass with green flag half-mast high,
Succory to match the sky, 45
Columbine with horn of honey,
Scented fern, and agrimony,
Clover, catchfly, adder’s-tongue
And brier-roses, dwelt among;
One goal of the worker bee, in her mission to maintain the health of the hive, is to create honey stores in case the hive experiences seasons of limited nectar. Flying from flower to flower, a worker bee gathers nectar using her proboscis: a straw-like appendage connected to her mouth. As the nectar enters a special storage stomach, enzymes begin to work upon the nectar until upon return to the hive, the nectar is deposited for further processing in-hive.
The process of depositing and moving nectar can involve several bees, many of which are tasked with singular duties. Forager bees (young adult females) deposit the nectar with added enzymes, which will eventually transform the sucrose sugars in nectar to glucose and fructose. House bees will spread the nectar around a cell and fan the mixture with their wings to draw out moisture. Then, other bees might come by and seal off each cell with wax, to store it away as reserves.
The process of depositing and moving nectar can involve several bees, many of which are tasked with singular duties. Forager bees (young adult females) deposit the nectar with added enzymes, which will eventually transform the sucrose sugars in nectar to glucose and fructose. House bees will spread the nectar around a cell and fan the mixture with their wings to draw out moisture. Then, other bees might come by and seal off each cell with wax, to store it away as reserves.